New Eastern Washington receivers coach Dumas brings experience, Eagle ties
Eastern Washington’s new wide receivers coach checks all the boxes, including a few you wouldn’t expect.
He was an all-Pac-10 receiver as a player and a two-time Big Sky champion as a coach, and he also worked with two Eagle legends before they ever set foot in Cheney.
Meet Jay Dumas, a teammate of Beau Baldwin’s at Curtis High School in Tacoma and more recently the offensive coordinator for a Davis High School program that produced Cooper Kupp.
Both are gone now – Baldwin recently to Cal and Kupp imminently to the NFL – but their paths are entwined with Dumas.
“I learned a lot from both,” said Dumas, who saw one common thread that propelled Baldwin to the top of the FCS coaching ranks and Kupp to earn every major receiving record.
It’s the ethic of hard work, the same kind that Dumas hopes to impart to a new generation of Eastern receivers.
In Baldwin, Dumas saw a player “who wasn’t the most athletic guy, but he always worked hard and had inherent leadership skills. He was always prepared.”
After coaching Kupp, Dumas made the same observation by former Eastern teammates and coaches: “He was a little undersized coming out of high school, but I’ve never seen anyone work as hard as that kid.”
Dumas, 43, has put in a few hours himself in the last 2 ½ decades. He played four years at Washington State from 1992-96, catching 96 balls for 920 yards and returning 90 punts for a 7.8-yard average. Dumas was an honorable mention All-Pac-10 Conference pick as a junior.
After four years at Western Washington, Dumas served as running backs and receivers coach at Montana State in 2002-06. The Bobcats won two Big Sky titles in that span.
Seeking some stability with family in Yakima, Dumas spent the last decade at Davis High and at Central Washington.
The common denominators at all four jobs was an offense that Dumas said “put our athletes in position to be successful.”
Dumas’ desire to get back into Division I made it easy to accept an offer from Best.
“I wanted the opportunity to work with some of the best athletes around, and to coach in a program that’s been successful,” Dumas said.
The expectations are the same despite the departure of Kupp, Kendrick Bourne and Shaq Hill, who had 4,058 receiving yards last year.
“We are expecting the guys to be successful, and the guys see it as an opportunity,” Dumas said. “These guys are football sponges – the tricky part of my job is that I don’t want to mess with what works.”
As the Eastern offense evolves toward more balance, Dumas said he’s focused on giving the receivers “more tools for their toolbox. All I’m doing is giving them different techniques.”